The present invention relates to a fuel combuster, more particularly to a torch tip, having an orifice cleaning element movably mounted therein.
Combustion chambers for burning premixed fuels with air have various applications, but generally require the mixing of the fuel with an oxygen source such as air, igniting the mixture, and burning the mixture. One such application is in self-contained portable torches, which use pressurized gas tanks as the fuel source. The fuel is mixed with ambient air and flows through a jet ejector or nozzle. Numerous attempts have been made to provide a torch tip which produces an even flame, which is easy to light, which will operate under any pressure, and which will not overheat. To that end, U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,559, assigned to the instant assignee and the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses a combustion device for generating a linear flame. The device includes means for combining a fuel gas and a combustion supporting gas, and means for stalling the combined fuel gas and combustion supporting gas when the combined gases are moving either at a low velocity or a high velocity.
Another fuel combuster is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,013,395. That device uses a vortex generator as a flame holder, which results in a swirling flame.
In gas-air tip devices such as the foregoing, clogging of the nozzle orifices is a continual problem. One method of unclogging the orifices is to reverse the flow of the orifice by using a flammable compressed gas from the cylinder to "blow out" the dirt. However, such a procedure is time-consuming and hazardous, especially in view of the use of the flammable gas.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a combustion device having means for cleaning the orifice.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a combustion device having means for cleaning the orifice that is permanently incorporated in the device.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a convenient and easy method of cleaning the orifice of a combustion device.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon reference to the following description, drawings and claims.